While everyone may not know exactly what antibiotics are or how they work, most people have taken them at some point in their lives. Familiarity with antibiotics stems from the fact that they are prescribed often, and their frequency of misuse has led to a very big problem – antibiotic resistance. So what are we
The story of oral contraception begins in the early twentieth century when Austrian physiologist, Ludwig Haberlandt, found that female rabbits and guinea pigs became temporarily sterile after the transplantation of ovaries from pregnant animals. But what caused this temporary sterilization, and how did it lead to the pill? The secret of the pill is the
1.5 million. That number can represent many different things: the population of Philadelphia, the number of classified living species, or the number of tweets Taylor Swift's Reputation album received in the first 24 hours of its release. It is also the number of children under 5 years of age that die from vaccine-preventable diseases every
“You have cancer.†The dreaded three words that no patient wants to hear when they go into the clinic. A cancer diagnosis can be devastating on an emotional and psychological level, and most importantly, it prematurely reminds us of our mortality. According to 2017 Cancer Statistics, over 1.7 million Americans will be diagnosed with some
Dogs can do amazing things from sniffing out bombs to hunting rabbits. But Angus, a 3-year-old English springer spaniel, is a detection dog like no other. In 2016, Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) in Canada introduced this four-legged bacteria fighter to help detect Clostridium difficile (C. diff) in their hospitals. According to the Centers for Disease
On August 31, 1854, an outbreak of cholera occurred along Broad Street (now Broadwick Street) in London. Over the next three days, 127 people living in the area died; the count rose to 500 a week later. Most of the nearby residents fled the area, fearing they would also be infected. Instead of fleeing with them,
We're a few months into the new year now, so how's that “New Year, New You†life plan going? More specifically, how about those detoxes or cleanses? You may have noticed a few detox trends on the covers of magazines while buying organic veggies for your vegan meals (which may or may not have turned
Warning: There are images within this article that may be disturbing to some. Like many Americans, when I think of the problems associated with living in poverty, the first thing to come to mind are issues of material wealth. Not having access to things like cell phones, the internet, and a car, but being impoverished
Throughout all of my training as a geneticist, I've never been taught about the original Eugenics Movement. What is Eugenics and why does it sound so familiar? The definition that I've found that best describes Eugenics is by Edward Larson in his book, Sex, Race, and Science: “Eugenics is that science which studies the inborn
I spent most of my life breathing easy and smelling the roses, then I moved to the state of Georgia. I acquired a feline roommate for the first time and spent lots of time outside inhaling the Georgia pollen.
Well, maybe I should clarify. I did get infected with a virus, but it's probably not the one that comes to mind when one hears the term “herpes.†There are actually eight different herpes viruses that commonly infect humans, and only two of them are categorized as sexually transmitted diseases. I caught one of the
It's safe to say that parents want what's best for their children. But determining what exactly is best isn't always black and white. One of the first things a new parent has to provide for their newborn baby is nutrients. An increasing number of studies are showing evidence of the benefits of breast milk for
